Strategic goals vs. daily practice

A short blog about conflicting interests between general counsel and managers when hiring freelance legal professionals.

The hiring of freelance legal professionals is a powerful tool for companies, but its use can reveal conflicting interests within teams.

Benefits for general counsel: flexibility and cost savings

For general counsel, the focus is often on strategic goals, such as managing costs and maintaining flexibility in staffing. By hiring freelancers, GCs can strengthen their teams without the costs and commitments that come with expanding with permanent employees. This allows them to more easily respond to peaks in workload and keep their focus on the core activities of the team. Instead of adding more full-time employees, they opt to outsource less critical tasks, helping to keep personnel costs manageable.

Managers: the importance of team size and control

For managers, other interests may come into play. A larger team can bring status and give managers more control over daily operations. For them, a shrinking team—or the use of external professionals—sometimes poses a direct risk to retaining budgets and influence. Fewer internal employees can also lead to a loss of knowledge and continuity, which can be problematic for operational managers responsible for day-to-day supervision. Managers often have little or no say in policies and the corresponding increase in projects that require manpower. As a result, having a large team of colleagues can feel like a safer alternative to a streamlined team with fewer permanent colleagues, where non-core tasks are outsourced.

The challenge of conflicting interests

These conflicting interests make finding the right balance between flexibility and internal team building a complex issue. The first step is mapping out the different interests within the teams. To fully capitalize on the benefits of freelance professionals, everyone needs to be on board.

How managers can benefit from freelancers

For managers, the use of freelance professionals can bring significant advantages. Consider removing non-core tasks from their team members—work that may be uninteresting or time-consuming—so the team can focus on more exciting projects. This enhances the happiness of your own people, and for managers, employee satisfaction is often a top priority (right?).